Rinderpest and peste des petits ruminants : virus plagues of large and small ruminants

Rinderpest is one of the epizootic diseases for which the most historical information exists. This is due to the spectacularly high mortality that it causes and the speed with which it spreads, giving it all the hallmarks of an economic and social disaster, which explains why many people of Europe, Africa, and Asia held painful memories of the incursion of this disease and faithfully recorded and recounted that in many works. During the nineteenth century, clinical and pathological descriptions of diseases like rinderpest were added. These were the cornerstones of the classification of plagues until the end of the nineteenth century. Around this time, the causative agent of the human plague was identified, which turned out to be a bacterium (. Yersinia pestis). Rinderpest was eliminated from Europe by the end of the nineteenth century by the simple application of sanitary measures, thanks to the requirement of close contacts needed for disease transmission, and before the nature of the infectious agent was known. The identification of peste des petits ruminants as a separate entity from rinderpest affecting small ruminants in western Africa was another important breakthrough in the history of animal plagues. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.